upgrading my cd player, suggestions? and should I use a dac?

Just thinking about upgrading my cd player to somthing newer currently useing an old sony cdp-291 was thinking about a pioneer pd-10ae any thoughts? was also thinking maybe looking for somthing that would play sacd's. and would i get better sound quality if I ran it into a dac first? anyway currently useing an old a and r cambridge(arcam) a60 amp and some kef q100 speakers I just picked up. any thoughts/advice would be apreciated, thanks again Pete

The Onkyo C-7030 gets great reviews if you want a new CD player. It has digital output that would give you the option of connecting to an external DAC in case you ever want to go that route. Buying an external DAC can get very interesting depending on what you want it to do (beside sound good). Standalone DACs are great for computer audio.

Unless you are ready to start investing in a new format, I would stick to CD players. Of course you could get a used universal player (SACD / DVD-Audio / CD) to see if SACD is something you want to invest in (which is really Direct Stream Digital or DSD on a disc). The Onkyo DV-SP800 comes to mind for this only because I have experience with it and I can vouch for the sound quality (and it sounds great). Keep in mind that most SACD players will not output the DSD signal to an external DAC unless it has an HDMI connection.

Yamaha AVENTAGE BD-A1060BL Blu-ray Disc Player ... been using since last Dec. You can use external DAC for CD's ... but the unit does a nice job of playing CD's (as well as SACD's, DVD & Blu Ray) internally. In my case, I use an external DAC for DVD/Blu Ray concerts discs (Joe Bonamassa mostly/very well recorded).

thanks for the responses, was thinking of maybe going the vintage route with a pioneer pd-91 if I could find one but that yamaha bd-a1060bl looks just what i'm looking for other then the inclusion of a bluray player but as i'v discoverd stand alone sacd players seem very expensive and out of my price range(which is around 300-500ca) might just be worth stretching my budget.

thanks for the responses, was thinking of maybe going the vintage route with a pioneer pd-91 if I could find one but that yamaha bd-a1060bl looks just what i'm looking for other then the inclusion of a bluray player but as i'v discoverd stand alone sacd players seem very expensive and out of my price range(which is around 300-500ca) might just be worth stretching my budget.

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Hi Pete, I use a DACmagic 100 with my vintage amps running mp3's and FLAC files from my computer. I have a Pioneer BD-50 for my CD's which are almost scarce in my house as I just use my hard drive as my 'jukebox'! The sound it great to me either way, but I am partial to the DAC mostly!

you might be better off trying a DAC and using your existing CDP as a transport. you
are then upgrading to the latest technology without the rest of the investment. like
buying a new house to get a better closet.

there are as many DACs under $100 as there are CDPs over $100.

I use a DAC with multiple inputs that allow using several CD players,
one as a transport, with optical/digital/analog inputs. It has dual outputs -
one with a tube for that magic, and the other is SS to drive headphones
without unplugging or major reconfigurations.

My Oppo is used as a BluRay player, VUDU movie streamer and a CD transport. It has an optical toslink audio out which I run to my DAC when it is in CD mode.

Understand that your CD player, actually any CD player, has a DAC in it. That's how all those digital 1's and 0's get converted to an analog signal to your receiver or preamp. And there are multiple DAC chipsets used in various equipment on the market. To my ear, there are differences in how they sound.

So if you get a CD player with an optical toslink audio output, and decide the DAC chip inside that box isn't to your liking when analog output is used to connect it to your receiver or preamp, you can always use the toslink output and connect the CD player to an external DAC that has a different chipset and let that send an analog signal to your receiver or preamp.

Just thinking about upgrading my cd player to somthing newer currently useing an old sony cdp-291 was thinking about a pioneer pd-10ae any thoughts? was also thinking maybe looking for somthing that would play sacd's. and would i get better sound quality if I ran it into a dac first? anyway currently useing an old a and r cambridge(arcam) a60 amp and some kef q100 speakers I just picked up. any thoughts/advice would be apreciated, thanks again Pete

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It depends on what types of music you listen to.

For me, all of the following recorded music formats are relevant: SACD, Blu-ray, Pure Audio Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, plus downloaded hi-res (24bit/192kHz) FLAC and DSD. Plus CDs. Therefore - for me - a "CD-only" player would exclude a wealth of recordings that are important to me (i.e., modern classical and opera recordings that feature such advances as hi-res audio, multi-channel, and hi-def video).

OTOH, if none of the music you like is available in these newer formats (i.e., newer than the 30+ year-old CD format), then a CD player might suit your needs.